1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser scanning microscope. In particular, the present invention relates to a laser scanning microscope and a microscopic observing method for scanning a laser beam for stimulation with an acoustooptical effect.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-148258, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a laser scanning microscope having a scanning optical system for observation that observes a sample and a scanning optical system for stimulation that applies photostimulation to a sample is well known (e.g., refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 10-206742).
With this laser scanning microscope, a laser beam for stimulation emitted from a laser beam source for stimulation is two-dimensionally scanned by a scanner using a galvano mirror, and is emitted to the sample, thereby applying photostimulation to a photostimulation region.
Preferably, this photostimulation is simultaneously applied to the entire photostimulation region. However, with this conventional laser scanning microscope, the sample is two-dimensionally scanned with the laser beam for stimulation by the galvano mirror for photostimulation and it takes some time from the start of photostimulation to the end.